Hey, remember that thing I said about hiking the Appalachian Trail after I finished grad school? I wasn’t kidding.

In about two weeks, barring unforeseen injury or failure to pass my final doctoral defense [UPDATE: I PASSED!! YAY!!], I will be standing on the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail in Springer Mountain, GA.  From there, I will be attempting to hike 2,190 miles through fourteen states to the northern terminus on Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park, ME.

The view from T-minus two weeks is surprisingly optimistic.The path to this point has been fraught with enough doubt, anxiety, and frustration that the actual hike itself seems less daunting. Graduate school and thru-hiking each operate on their own specific and rigidly inflexible schedules. There have been many moments where it appeared that this hike would be impossible. But, the stars seem to be aligning in my favor and it looks like my dream is actually going to become a reality (albeit with a somewhat late start)!

My trek will take approximately 5 months, during which time I will periodically share updates from the trail on this blog. Over the next two weeks, I’ll be focusing on optimizing my gear list, planning meals, and testing new equipment. Then the real fun begins (and all of my planning undoubtedly goes out the window).

I hope that you’ll follow along with me as I undertake this adventure!